• I am all about things my kids can do that are quiet.  Loud is fun and good, but quiet is even better.  I do my best to come up with things for my older kids to do while my youngest takes a nap.  As you might imagine, I would prefer these things to be quiet things to allow the baby to sleep more.  One of our favorite activities is our Dry Erase Book.

    I originally made these to help my daughter with writing practice back when she was three or four.  Since then we have expanded them and made one for my son.

    You will need a printer, paper, a three ring binder, plastic sheet protectors, tape, and of course dry erase markers.

    Our original books only contained pictures of letters for my daughter to trace.  We then added simple sight words, and her name and address.  For fun, we added mazes, and connect the dots.  Eventually we began putting black and white photos of family members inside.

    To assemble your book, print everything you want to use from your printer.  You could absolutely use color, but I find that the dry erase markers look best over black and white.

    Slide your pictures into the sheet protectors.  Tape the tops if you are worried about your kids removing the papers.  Put them into your three ring binder and you’re done!
    I took the package of dry erase markers and hot glued it to the inside front of the folder for easy access.

    When my kids use these books they put old socks on their non dominate hands.  This way they have an eraser handy at all times.  Plus, who doesn’t love wearing socks on their hands.

    The biggest hits in these books are of course our photos.  My kids cannot get enough of putting mustaches on grandma’s face.